Dark and Light
by Ultima66
Summary: Jace, an Assassin, is a simple guy, living off the joy of hunting monsters. But one day he meets Crystal, a cleric that changes everything. The two of them's lives inevitably become entwined as their story unfolds.
1. Chapter 1

Dark and Light – Chapter 1

By Ultima66

I let the long blades flip through my hand a few times, then put down the long blades back onto the table.

"So you say 8 million?" I asked, "I've been meaning to get a set of these things."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to sell them. Need a bit of cash right now, so it's a little under priced, but I'm sure the buyer doesn't care," the spearman told me.

"Alright, then," I said, handing him the money. He grabbed the bundle with a grin, and he put the knives down in front of me. I felt a bump behind me. Turning around, I saw a girl - a mage, wearing a long white calaf, holding her thorns and esther shield with a golden circlet containing a blue gem perched on her head like a tiara. She had a white napoleon cape on her back and had a blue pennance wrapped around her wrist, and from what I could see, the curled tips of her gold winded shoes. Her light brown hair flowed down her back and she had pretty brown eyes that seemed to have a spark of joy in them, contrasting her light skin, and pretty heart earrings hung on her ears.

"Oh, I'm sorry I bumped into you. Crowded market, isn't it?" she asked me, smiling. She gazed at my dark identity tied tight around my head and the threatening dark gigantic on my arm. Indeed I was lucky to pick up the gigantic at a pretty cheap price, and I found my dark identity from a yeti I killed a while ago. With my black magic cape, skull earrings, dark scorpio set, my black snowshoes, and even my red moon glove, added on to my dark tanned skin, I was a really shadowy figure, with just bits of color here and there.

"Just looking around," I told her, smiling back, "See you around, then." Taking the set of steelies I walked into the portal that led back out of the market.

A few minutes later I walked the way to the house where Mushmom was known to show up around. Grabbing a rope, I sat back for a little while. No one else was around the area at the moment, so it was fine to wait. After a little while, though, I got bored, and decided to kill a few of the armored pigs. The new set of steelies flew beautifully through the hair, their long red streamers following them in a straight line. It was like throwing missiles of steel, the way they were perfectly weighted so that the knives tore through the air straight without spinning around like a star. I smiled inwardly as the long knives flew fast enough to pierce even the tough armor on the iron hogs and sent dark streams of blood flowing down their sleek metal armored sides.

Another steely shot through the air, hitting a fierry squarely on her small stomach, practically slicing her in half. _These things are too weak,_ I thought to myself. Then I saw mushmom appear nearby. With a long jump, I flew backwards, still flinging the powerful knives in my backwards leap. A half dozen of them flew deep into the mushmom's tough body as it started advancing towards me. With another backspring, I continued flinging knives at it. It got a bit close to me and jumped into the air. Seeing this, I made another jump to avoid the shockwave and threw a few more knives at it. Its corpse fell to the ground, a large bundle of money and an enormous spore falling out of it.

"Nothing," I sighed. Well, I better get going to somewhere else now. To me, being an assassin was an art form, my heavy but strong gigantic my paint brush, my various stars and knives my paint, plastering the canvasses of the various monsters with abstract streams and splatters of blood. And I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the sight of the monsters falling down, seeing the multitudinous bodies all on the floor because of a simple claw and a few steel blades flying through the air.

It was a few days later that I saw her again, this time around El Nath. I didn't even notice it was her, but she smiled and waved to me.

"Hey, it's market guy!" she said cheerfully.

"You're just a regular shining star in a sea of people, aren't you? Couldn't help but notice me?" I asked her.

"Aw... we don't even know each other's names yet. Well I'm Crystal. You?" she said to me.

"Heh, is it customary to make friends with every guy you accidentally bump into in the market now? Well my name is Jace," I told her.

"You know, if you're planning fighting zombies right now I could help you," she said, letting a green tide of energy flow over her.

"Cleric? That's cool, but I don't think I'll have too much of a problem with my health," I said, a purple spiral of energy spinning around me, throwing a knife harmlessly into the snow, "Besides, I'm not planning on heading to zombie grounds. I want to go take on some cerebes for the fun of it. And I need to go get some horns. Nick wants a hundred of them."

"I can come with you," she said, giggling, "It'd be nice to just follow you around."

"Now if girls would follow everyone around, so many problems us guys have would be solved," I joked, as she blushed, not knowing if I was kidding or saying she shouldn't follow me, "I'm kidding, Crystal. You're fine. Just another random girl I don't even know following me around for no apparent reason: no problem at all."

"Hey, I can be useful," she said.

"Let's go then," I told her, as we stepped out of town into the freezing cold of the snowfield. _Hope she likes watching stuff get blown apart,_ I thought to myself. Hey, what could I say? My life just got a bit more interesting. The great Jace now had a cleric friend.


	2. Chapter 2

Dark and Light – Chapter 2

By Ultima66

We walked through the snow that felt so familiar to me; I being someone known to travel a lot. I felt joy and entertainment in the destruction of monsters, a fact that I pitied myself for, and I loved to just travel around, pushing myself to my limits to see what I could handle. Crystal hung by my side the whole time, I, allowing her time to keep pace with me while I dashed a bit ahead. Being an assassin taught many things most people didn't know, and it was a tough discipline, but an extremely rewarding one. For example, the discipline to maneuver through the air in jumps was a skill many overlooked, as most people could do nothing but stand their ground with their awkward weapons.

Indeed, a claw was simple, but to me, it was a thing of beauty. Of course, what did I know about aesthetics? A person who sees destruction as a passion? My train of thought was interrupted when Crystal suddenly called out to me from relatively far behind.

"Hey, Jace. Mind holding on a second?" she said, with a casual tone in her voice. I looked back to see where I left her, but all I managed to catch was a small blue flicker in the air. Suddenly, something grabbed me around my neck lightly and I heard Crystal's innocent laugh behind me. "Wouldn't want to leave me now, would you?" she giggled.

Still unsure of why she seemed to be so attracted to me, I simply smiled and told her we should keep going. We made our way up the path of the El Nath mountain, reaching the dark mountainous forest where zombies were known to reside.

"Well we're at the zombies. Let's keep going. Most of the walk is over," I said to Crystal, who had a flushed look and seemed a bit nauseous. "Are you okay, Crystal? You haven't been up here much, have you?"

"Oh, I'm fine. Need some air, that's all. I'm not used to the air being this thin. Only been here a few times before," she said.

:"Need rest?" I asked her.

"This area is pretty flat, I think it'll go away as long as we don't keep going up," she told me. I nodded and continued on.

This area of the mountain used to be lush forest, but since the zombies appeared, it's been mostly plain area with a few trees here and there, and of course the travelers always willing to test their mettle against these creatures. But I wasn't here to mess around. I was only passing through. Walking across the flats, people standing around entrenched in their battles so that they barely noticed us, I took in the sight of so many people working themselves. It was this kind of fighting spirit we needed in everyone to make this world a happier place.

"Oh, hey Jace! Nice to see you here too. Who's this that I've never met before, eh?" I heard a voice call out behind me. Turning around I saw my friend, Alex, the fighter, with his usual oriental clothes and helmet. With a thrust he sent his sparta deep into the chest of an advancing zombie, as it disintegrated into dust.

"Oh, hey, Alex. I'm just passing by for now. Gonna find me some cerebes. And this is... well she's kinda just here, I guess. Her name's Crystal and she's been following me around ever since I talked to her just a little while ago," I told him, a little jokingly.

"Hey..." she started to say, but was cut short by Alex.

"So you've found yourself a girl. Cute one, too," he said.

"Shut up, Alex. I told you, she's just really here. I'll have a girl someday. I just... I'm not lonely yet," I said, still thinking about it. All this time I had barely let the thought go through my head that this girl really liked me. "In fact... I can't believe I didn't even think what it would seem like for people who saw us to be traveling together, Alex. You had to point it out."

Crystal looked down, then turned away from me. "I wanna go back," she said.

Shaking his head Alex looked away from me and sighed, "You don't let down people that want to be with you, man. Crystal... he's sorry. I know he is. Trust me, he's my friend, and I know you like him. He just doesn't understand right now."

She turned around and flatly said, "I just want you to be by my side. If you don't care... I can say goodbye and we'll never see again."

I sighed in thought. Already things had gone terribly wrong. I was so worthless to other people around me. "Crystal, I want you with me, as a friend for now. I can wait for the future; if you're willing to wait, that is," I said slowly, thinking about my words.

She nodded in agreement, and we silently traveled through the forest, leaving Alex behind to himself and the zombies. We arrived at the mines, where presumably all the zombies in the forest had come from. Countless decades ago this mine had been active. Then the miners apparently had unearthed the great beats Zakum, and with it, released monsters into the mine. In time most of it had transformed into a burning passage, where we were headed. The miners who worked there had apparently taken to what was left of the mine, and infested it, along with the surrounding forest.

"Are you mad at me?" I asked, not knowing if she would be willing to talk to me or not.

"No, I'm not mad at you, and I have no reason to be. It wasn't right for me to just assume you were mine," she said, still deeply thinking. Then I heard a gasp from her and looked in front of me. We were at the cliff that separated the infested mines from the heart of the cavern. "Wow, didn't expect this..." I heard her say.

"Don't worry. Here, hold my hand," I said, "If we're holding on to each other, my dark sight should let us both be protected from physical harm."

I offered her my hand and she held on. Focusing for a moment, I let the shadows envelop the both of us.

"This is pretty cool," she said, watching everything turn a little bit dimmer and feeling shadows float around her, slowing her down a bit. "We jump?"

"We jump," I replied, clutching her arm tightly as I leapt off the cliff, Crystal following seamlessly.

It was like flying, only so much more this time. This time Crystal was there, and I took notice of her warm grip, almost washing through me, instilling confidence in me, no, wait, instilling confidence in _us_.

We landed with a light tap on the ground, the shadows nullifying the impact. We felt the effects of the cave heat immediately after I let go of her arm and let the dark sight break. It was hot, scorching hot.

"Wow, this place is making me a little flustered. It's so hot..." she said. "You know, I never felt so much peace and tranquility in shadow before. It's like light, only the opposite yet the same exact thing almost. It's so weird."

"Yeah, you've got a bit to learn about shadow. It's not really bad. It's a thing is beauty, I think," I told her, "But you know how poorly I interpret beauty, right?" She sucked her teeth, letting me know not to reference my own indignity to her.

"You've got quite a bit to learn about light, then, I guess. We go in?" she said.

"Uh huh. Come on, Crystal," I told her, walking into the sweltering chambers. A small grin went across my face as I thought for a second. _Alex, you might just be right about this._


	3. Chapter 3

Dark and Light – Chapter 3

By Ultima66

We walked into the hot room. Around us, small pools of lava collected here and there, and dangerous toxic vents came up from the floor.

"We're here," I said.

"Wow," said Crystal, "This place is amazing."

"A bit, yeah. Well I'm here for the cerebes so let's get moving," I told her.

I gripped my claw tightly and a blue swirl appeared around it and vanished. It now suddenly became lighter and less air resistant. Then, I focused for a second as a large effervescent symbol appeared parallel to me and above Crystal. We both felt much lighter than before, almost like being in low gravity in fast motion. Crystal conjured a few angels which poured what seemed to be liquid energy on top of the both of us. I felt an aura of light surrounding me, and what seemed to be a heightened sense of awareness. Then I saw a pillar of pink and white shoot up from under Crystal then vanish. She then created another angel holding a wand that sprinkled some magical dust over her.

"You know, this is pretty ridiculous," I told her.

She smiled, and struck at a jr cerebes, sending two claws of energy tearing at it. Another claw sent the small bulldog head to the ground. A tooth fell on the ground, as well as some money.

I saw a cerebes ahead. Jumping a little towards it, I let loose two of the steelies and they sank into its back, but it turned towards me and held its paws up, ready to slam the ground. It caught me right when I landed, making me fall on my back, and the quake also hit Crystal, who's magic seemed to have deflected most of the blow. A wave of green washed over both of us, and my pain suddenly left me, purged out by a warm glowing light. Crystal motioned me to stop jumping, and I got up and started flinging more and more knives at it without attempting to avoid the cerebes' attacks, simply letting myself get pushed back a little with each impact, Crystal healing the pain before it even started.

After a few rounds of stars, the cerebes fell, a shaggy red mass, the entire room way to hot to tell if the red was blood or it was naturally from the fur, as the extreme heat made everything red. A tusk fell out of its jaw. "I've never fought a cerebes before," said Crystal, "It seemed pretty strong."

"No worries. Normally I'd just try to be fast on my feet to avoid the shockwaves, but since you're here, I guess I can make do with just standing my ground," I told her, "Hey, duck!"

I saw a firebomb behind Crystal. I quickly threw four knives at it. Crystal half turned around and half sidestepped to look at what was behind her and to dodge the flying knives that were sailing a bit too close to her at the moment. The knives flew past her and hit the ball of fire in its core, burnt cinder part. It quickly became little more than a small charred ball laying on the ground.

"You okay?" I asked her. She nodded her head.

We continued to take down the cerebes, slowly and one-by-one. After about an hour, as another cerebes fell down, I noticed a large white shape on the ground where the large creature fell, the color distinct from everything else in the cave. I walked over to it and examined it.

"What is it?" asked Crystal, stepping closer. I now saw a long black handle with a spiral of white coming down it.

"This is... a dark ritual!" I exclaimed, taking it in my hands. I looked at her, smiling in what we had just found, and then I noticed her face was really red. "Whoa, Crystal," I said, "Are you gonna be okay? You don't look too good."

"Don't worry, it's nothing. It's just a bit hot, that's all. Wow... a dark ritual. This will make us rich, if we sell it," she said. Still, I was a bit worried about her condition.

"Well this is exactly why I wanted to come here. Beautiful," I said, elated with my luck.

"I wanted to come here to be with you..." she said, her voice trailing off at the last few words. I heard a the sound of something falling down behind me, and I quickly diverted my attention from the staff to Crystal, my eyes widening with fear. Quickly, before I even thought about it, the words left my mouth, "Oh my god..."

Silence.


	4. Chapter 4

Dark and Light – Chapter 4

By Ultima66

_I opened my eyes. Light, but not just light. No more heat. Everything was coming into view. I smelled the air: flowers. A meadow? I felt grass through my back._ _Turning my head I saw a large fallen tree, moss overrunning its top and sides._

_I stood up. What had happened? Last thing I remember was being with Jace fighting cerebes. Something had happened... I looked around. I was in a field, flowers everywhere and a pond in the middle. But around me, a little off the distance, I saw trees in every direction. Was I trapped? This was strange..._

_Jace. Jace had seen something. Was it what sent me here? No, it was something good. I remember being happy he found it. What, though, was the thing? It was something big, I knew it was something big. Worry grew in my mind, but still I tried to think straight._

"Crystal!" I yelled, "Crystal, can you hear me? Oh my god, Crystal! Get up!" I stared at her body, lying there on the ground. She had fallen forward, dropping her thorns and her shield. I couldn't believe I had let something bad happen to her. What would Alex say? That this time I did much worse than ruin my own chance with a girl? That I endangered someone's life? I took the dark ritual I found and threw it into the bag I used to hold my stuff, took up her possessions strewn on the ground, holding them in my hand, and then fumbled around in my bag until I pulled out a blue scroll.

I knelt by her body and lifted her up. Holding her waist, I slowly opened the scroll and read from it. I knew something was wrong. She felt extremely hot, and her skin was tinged pink all over. As I worriedly looked into her face, a small stream of blood began to flow from her nose. Shocked, I still read on, until everything became white and I found myself in El Nath, still holding her in my arms. Suddenly, I felt people watching me, wondering what had happened.

I heard someone call, "Jace!" Looking up, I saw Alex staring at Crystal, still unconscious, then looked up to stare at me, kneeling on the ground next to her body.

"Alex, I need your help," I said.

_It was really weird._ _Something was empty inside of me, and I was getting more and more scared by the minute. I walked over to the pond and stared into it. Something was really peculiar about it, and not just in the way it was seemingly completely empty. There was sunlight bouncing off the surface of the water, but there was no shadow for some reason. Looking up, I saw the bright blue sky, but wherever I stared I could see no sun. What was this? I felt a deep sense of fear creep into my stomach. I looked in again. I noticed something else, too. I couldn't see myself in the water._

_I needed someone here. It was so empty, so strange. Nothing made sense any more. I needed Jace here for me, to care for me and worry about me. But what difference did it make? He didn't care. I could feel friendship from him, but never any more than that. Just friendship. I felt like I loved him, but what difference did it make if he didn't care?_

_I walked around. Approaching the edge of the meadow, I could see that the forest wasn't very difficult to get through. I held my staff and shield_ _tight in my hands and slowly stepped in, staring around to see if anything would jump at me. After walking a barely a minute, I saw light coming through ahead of me._

_I thought got lost for a second. Then I realized I had been traveling in a straight line – the trees ironically kept themselves in perfectly neat rows, just leafy enough to so that no one could see through them. But ahead of me, I saw it again. Ahead of me was what appeared to be the exact same field I had just walked out of, down the the lake and the mossy log. I was scared._

"Look, Alex, I know it looks bad, but I swear it wasn't my fault. I was the one worried about her safety, but she insisted that she stay with me," I told him.

"I believe you, Jace, but you just appeared in the middle of the town with a very sick unconscious girl," he said, "Look, Jace, we'll find her somewhere to rest and try to nurse her back to health. That's all we can do. No one's to blame about this, so don't kill yourself over it."

I tried to nod in agreement, but my worry froze me. Trying to snap myself out of it, I stood up and closed my eyes, shaking my head a little. My heart was racing and I was really dizzy in the insanity of what had just happened, but I knew I had work ahead of me.

"Where do we go?" I asked Alex.

"One of the store owners here must have a place we can stay," he told me.

We walked for a bit, making it into a potion shop with Crystal in my arms. In the cold of El Nath, she still managed to be extremely hot – hot enough to feel like a fever even through her robe and cape on her back. The cold hadn't changed her appearance, either. Her face was still reddish-pink. Apparently her nosebleed had stopped, leaving a line of dried blood on her face, but I still wasn't encouraged.

"Excuse me, we have to have a bed for this girl here. Can you please help?" Alex asked the shopkeeper.

We were given a small clean bed, and we laid Crystal down in it immediately.

"Alex... what can we do?" I asked him.

"All that's left is for us to wait," he told me calmly, but I could see the worry in his eyes too. He shook his head, "I knew you had bad luck with girls, Jace, but I can't believe this."

I looked at the ground, then I told him what had happened. Suddenly, I remembered that I was carrying the dark ritual that I found. Slowly pulling it out of my bag, I looked at Crystal, lying there, then to Alex.

"Alex... we found this. I want you to have it right now, because I just can't hold on to it," I said, handing him the staff.

"Jace, you know this is worth like 30 million, right? Well, I understand, and know that I'll give it back when everything's better," he told me.

_There was just no way... Unless this was meant to torture me. But why would anyone want to do that? I was scared to death: scared to death of this place and scared to death that no one was here for me. I walked into the middle of the meadow._

_Sure enough, this had to be the same place. Nothing had changed at all. The log was still in the exact place from where it was before and the trees seemed to be the exact same distance from the log and pond. I knew the pond would still have the mysterious light glancing off of it, no physical reflection anywhere, and I was scared of it. Somehow I managed up enough courage to look back in the pond._

_This time it did change. Instead of the strange light from every direction, there was clearly a shining image of a skull. It seemed to laugh hideously as the waves rippled the light. Suddenly I realized that nothing had stirred the waves in the first place. The skull continued laughing at me, then I closed my eyes and started crying._

"_I want to leave! Whatever is going on I don't like it! Someone please help!" I cried out. I opened my eyes. The water was now bright and shiny again all over. I blinked and I saw a figure reflected in it: a silhouette in the shining water. Looking behind me, tears all over my face, I saw Jace, but something was weird. He didn't have the same "feeling" any more. He simply stared soullessly at me._

"_Jace, hey. Hello? Don't you recognize me? I'm Crystal. Jace! Talk to me!" I yelled. I felt myself running up to him and grabbing him in my arms, but he remained as lifeless as ever, strangely cold._

I was awakened by some noise coming from above. I felt the cold floor and suddenly remembered where I was.

"Hey, Alex. Get up. I heard something," I told Alex, lying on the floor next to me. We had to be here, watching over Crystal. An examination told us that she had passed out from exhaustion and heat stroke, but the examiner told us that there was no reason she hadn't woken up yet, so we should keep watching over her. She seemed to have returned to normal, only she was in a deep sleep.

"Yeah?" I heard Alex sleepily say, "What's up?"

"I just heard her say my name. Something is up, Alex, I know it," I told him.

"Look, Jace. I don't care if you did hear her say anything. There's just nothing that we can do. Understand?" He asked me. I nodded. The light was on, but it was night. I went over to look at her, and there was something really sad about her face. She was no longer red, but now something about her just looked wrong. I could tell she was in pain somewhere in her mind, and I wanted to help. I just simply couldn't do any more than I was doing now.

It was really strange, too. I had never let anyone touch my feelings like this. For an unknown reason, I felt so much more from Crystal fainting than I had ever felt for anyone else's problems. It was like there was a part of my soul lost with her. I cried myself to sleep for the first time in my life, Alex there next to me silently knowing what was going on.

"It'll all be fine soon," I heard him say, then with a last sob everything fell away and I was asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Dark and Light – Chapter 5

By Ultima66

_I walked away from the figure and tried to shake away the feeling. I was scared as ever, if not more. Now there was this lifeless figure of Jace in front of me, eerily staring. It wasn't Jace, or at least not to me. Something was very wrong about it._

"_Jace..." I said, letting the words echo through the air. I looked to the figure, who simply stared into blank space. It was extremely creepy, being afraid to turn around in case the figure would come after me. I saw his left hand hanging by his side, holding the same steely knives that I knew he had._

_I walked to the edge of the forest backwards, watching the frozen Jace closely. In the absolute silence and strange shadowless world, it felt like twilight._

"_I have to get out of here, or at least know better what this place looks like," I said under my breath. I tried to teleport up a tree to see the forest. I felt the light of the teleport, the world vanishing into bright white, but instead of the tree I ended up back in the middle of the clearing. This time Jace was nowhere to be seen. My heart raced._

_I walked over to the edge of the forest and tried it again, this time teleporting out into the thicket. Again, the world vanished into white as normal, but I ended up in the clearing. I realized that teleporting automatically reset this strange place._

"_I have to confront this, whatever it is. I guess there's no getting out until I do whatever I was supposed to do here," I said to myself._

_I looked down at the pond. Again, it was radiant, reflecting light from everywhere at once. Trembling just from the prospect, I closed my eyes and reopened them. As I expected, the light had formed into a shining skull, and the water rippled, the skull laughing. I felt tears flow down my eyes and my stomach sink. My heart raced like crazy, and then I tasted blood. I realized that I had been biting my lip. Again, after a little while, the skull vanished and Jace's reflection, staring emptily out into space, appeared in the water, and I looked back at him._

I dreamed that night. I dreamed that I was two people, a good one and an evil one. First I was my good side, and I felt myself holding crystal in my arms, pressing her close to me. Our lips met, and I felt something stir inside of me as I tasted her sweet kiss. It was so clear, and it felt like she was there for me in a way I had never felt before. I felt myself say "I'm here for you, Crystal, no matter what happens."

Her soft scent washed over me as she told me, "Jace, I want to be with you forever." We held each other closer as we closed our eyes, and then resting our heads on the other's shoulder, We drifted off.

Then I felt something else. Something terrible, but just as vivid. I felt myself approach Crystal, who apparently didn't notice me. There was a deep sense of hate and anger in me, and I reached for my stars and pulled out a single steely knife. I felt what I was going to do, and tried to force myself to stop, but it was no use. The dream was planned out, and it was going to go down the way it was originally intended.

I felt myself grabbing Crystal's shoulder, and felt her surprise when she found out I was behind her. She turned towards me, and I felt myself quickly punch her in the cheek with my heavy claw. The force of the blow sent her sideways onto the ground, and I saw dark red marks on her face where the gigantic has struck.

I felt myself kneel down to her level and turn her onto her back. Before she knew what was happening, my left hand brought the knife to her throat and with a swipe it tore her throat open. Blood quickly poured out, quickly engulfing her neck with red and deeply staining her robe. I felt myself laugh inwardly, then thrust the knife into her side. The body bounced upwards a little form the force, but otherwise there was no reaction to the stab, and I knew she was dead already.

I quickly woke up screaming. I found myself drenched in sweat, and my face scrunched up, ready to cry.

"Alex," I said, waking him up, "Something is really wrong with me."

_I stared at the figure this time, knowing he wouldn't react. What could I do? I was in someone else's twisted game, except I had no clue what any of the rules were._

"_Well, if no one's gonna tell me what I'm supposed to do, I guess I'm gonna do whatever and hope it works," I said to myself. Putting my hand into the now clear water, I scooped up a little and flung it at the face of the figure of Jace._

_Suddenly the world turned dark. The trees became the walls of the underground tunnel where we were at before I ended up here. The bright sky became a dark menacing ceiling, and the pool became a boiling pool of lava. I looked at Jace, and he had become a cerebes, raising its paws to attack me. A shock swept through my system at the suddenness of it all, and the resulting shock gave the cerebes a chance to attack._

_Before I knew what had happened, I felt my knees give way and I was launched up several inches. The shock wave sent pain rushing through my entire body. Without thinking I teleported away form the beast, and again when I reappeared I was back in the middle the clearing._

_I breathed a breath of relief, but then saw two familiar knives tear into the fallen tree next to me, cutting into it a good two inches. I quickly looked in front of me. Jace, holding his steelies ready, was menacingly gazing at me._

"Look, Alex. I dreamed I killed her," I said, "And I enjoyed it, too. I mean, me killing her could be what I really did taking her in there, but enjoying it? It's really weird."

"I know you," he said, "Well, let me put it this way. There is something deeply bad buried inside of your soul. Well, it's not even bad. It's just indifferent towards everything, and only gets joy in watching other things die. You know it, too. All the enjoyment you get from killing monsters; it's that part of your soul. No, I don't think you'd ever really kill her, but you are murderous inside."

This really didn't make me feel any better, and I just shook my head and lay down again. I felt something in me slip away, then I suddenly thought of Crystal. "Alex," I said, "Something's happening. Something about Crystal. Even though she's unconscious, I can still feel something. She's struggling, and I can feel something is about to go down."

"I trust you," he said, and we turned to Crystal, laying on the bed.

"_Look, Jace, I don't know what's going on, but can you please stop this? You're scaring me..." I said, intently watching him to see what he was going to do next. He simply ignored what I said and flung another two steelies at me. They whizzed dangerously next to my arm, and I felt the lash of the wind on my skin._

_I tried to teleport again, but this time I never vanished into the white spark of the teleport. I knew I had no choice but to fight this out. I held my left arm in front of me, and pulling back with my right arm, I created a shining bow and arrow. I launched an arrow at Jace._

_A split second before the arrow hit Jace, a large menacing wall appeared in front of him and absorbed the attack. He leapt towards me and continued to fling knives at me. I jumped down to the ground, the knives hitting the ground in a line, and as I knew the last one was going to hit I felt a burning pain in my calf. Looking over at it, I saw the knife buried deep into my calf through the calaf, staining part of it red. I tried to get up and heal, but like the teleport, it wouldn't work._

_I kept shooting at Jace, but every time the strange dark wall would appear in front of him and block the shot. He threw another steely at me, and I sidestepped to avoid it. It sailed into the forest. It then vanished into the forest and reappeared on the other side, making another go at me. Caught off guard, I felt the cold steel plunge into my shoulder. I felt a sickening pain all over my body, but I knew I couldn't give up._

"_This is for Jace's sake," I said to myself, "I know it is." I pulled the knives out of my ;leg and shoulder, and then stared back at Jace. Then I knew exactly what I had to do. I turned around and shot an arrow through the forest. I continued wincing from the pain._

_Suddenly, I felt myself getting grabbed. Cold steel plunged dangerously into my stomach, and I screamed. But then everything stopped. Struggling, I turned around and saw Jace, the arrow sticking straight through his chest, writing on the ground. I fell to my knees and started crying, pain pouring through my body._

_I saw Jace stop moving, as I saw more and more blood pour out onto the green grass. I felt like I would die. In the back of my mouth I tasted blood. I tried to look at Jace's body one last time, but then I fainted._

I reached out to her body. I lay my head down on her stomach. Suddenly, something in me seemed to die.

"Alex, I think I'm fine now," I said.

I sat down with her and hugged her, tears welling in my eyes.

_I think I fainted. Maybe I died, and now I'm in heaven or something. Everything's just white. I couldn't seem my body, but I felt the pain in my calf, shoulder, and stomach wash away slowly, soothingly, then I felt warmth. Everything started turning darker and slowly gave way into reality._

"I think she's waking up, Jace," I heard Alex say. I kept holding on to her.

_I tried to shake my head a little, then realized my eyes were closed. As I opened them, the first thing I saw was Jace grabbing me. I felt tears come to my eyes and then put my own arms around his back, pushing us closer._

I felt her body stir a little, but was too scared to open my eyes. Then I felt the warm arms around my own back, and I knew everything was fine. I let the tears flow down my cheek.

I heard her soft voice say, "Jace..." and all the thoughts of worry washed away from me.


	6. Chapter 6

Dark and Light – Chapter 6

By Ultima66

I let go of her.

"Crystal, we were so worried about you. What happened?" I said, not really caring about what answer she'd return.

"Jace, I was in a dream or something. I'm not too sure. It was all so real; all so scary," she said.

"You passed out in the heat. Isn't that scary enough?" I said, trying to change the subject to my worry.

"Jace, it was something beyond anything I've ever experienced before," she said. She explained it all to me in detail. She told me about the strange world she was in, the forest and the clearing where nothing was what it seemed to be: the looping forest that kept taking you to the other side of the clearing if you tried to walk in, the strange river that had the glowing skull, the image of me staring into blank space, the cerebes appearing and the whole forest turning into the lava caves, the resetting of the world when she teleported, and finally, how I supposedly attacked her and she had to kill me. "Jace," she said, "It was all so real. It wasn't like a dream: it didn't feel like a dream. It was like I was really there."

"I understand, Crystal, and something like that happened to me," I said, "I dreamed that I was two people: one that loved you and one that killed you. Like you said, it was just like I was really there. There has to be some connection, don't you think?"

"I don't just think there's a connection, Jace, I know. But now, we're here together, and I know deep down we really did learn to love each other. I think we really should stay together," she said, getting up.

"I knew all along," said Alex, grinning, "You two would make a great couple, you know."

"I don't feel quite right, Alex. It's so bittersweet. We both care about each other, right? But something's up, something bigger than all of us, and I know it's going to matter. There's no way that we both had clear dreams of killing each other by coincidence, right? I'm just wondering," I said to him.

"Me too," added Crystal.

"Look, you two. Don't you guys understand this much? No matter what you've seen, you have to learn to live how you want to, not by your visions. If you do that, you'll just worry yourself to death," Alex said. I sighed and thought for a moment. Then I felt Crystal's hand on my shoulder, and turned to gaze into her beautiful eyes.

"Alex, you're right," I said, starting to smile a little, "Now, I think Crystal and I should have some time to ourselves, so if you'll excuse us..."

"I understand," he said. We all smiled, and Alex walked to the door, me behind him. As he stepped out, I took the door and slowly closed it. I heard him say "Have fun, see you in the morning" softly when I shut the door. The lock clicked.

---

The next morning I got up several hours before the sun rose and walked out of the room. I saw Alex standing out in the main room, which was completely empty except for him.

"Nice way of being out and about when the people who own this store aren't even up yet, right?" he said to me.

"I wanted some private time," I told him, "I needed to think."

"Ah, you think too hard. I told you, don't worry about your dreams. We'll know what's up with all that eventually. So, do I need to ask? How was last night?" he said to me. I eyed him with a sarcastic look.

"I think you need to not worry about my business," I told him a little jokingly, "You're just my friend, not my life partner."

"Aw come on, man. We're guys, we can say things to each other. You know you can trust me. You're not gonna turn on me, are you?" he said.

"Fine, then," I said smiling, "I can trust you."

"So how was last night?" he repeated.

"She's beautiful," I said, not willing to say much more, "Just beautiful."

"Eh, just wanted to see what a guy like you would say. So what gives you the idea of being up so early?" he asked.

"What about you? You're just here to ask me how was last night and tell me not to worry?" I replied.

"No, I really did want to talk. I mean, Jace, can you really be with her? You're always going everywhere, and it's just not safe for her. And I know you'd never settle down," he said.

"Alex, I'll find a way. We're together, isn't that enough for now? She's fine, I'm fine, and we want to be with each other," I told him.

"Jace, you've changed. You weren't like this. Before you'd be not caring at all about how she felt. What's up with that?" Alex said.

"How should I know? Not that it matters. I just like Crystal, is that so bad?" I said.

"Maybe you just like her in bed..." he said. I quickly slapped him – lightly, but enough for him to get the point.

"I'm telling you, don't talk about that..." I said. Just then I heard a noise at the bedroom door. Crystal sleepily came into the room.

"What's going on?" she said, eyes droopy.

"Uh, Jace and I are just talking about... stuff..." Alex said, narrowly avoiding what would have caused a real slap on the face.

"I'm tired now, and we still have a few hours to sleep. Let's go, Crystal," I said as I walked over to her and put my arm around her back. Then I took her hand and we walked hand in hand back into the bedroom.

I stared back at Alex, gave him a wink, then closed the door to the room.


	7. Chapter 7

Dark and Light – Chapter 7

By Ultima66

Warm... I felt really warm, some scent drifted past my nose, and then I let go, letting myself fall to my side of the bed. I tasted one more sweet kiss, my eyes closed, then fell asleep. Everything was so warm and nice, I wondered why I lived through my ordinary life when I could have this.

I woke up, Crystal already out of bed. Turning, I could still sense the smell of her hair on the pillow. I suddenly felt warm again and wanted to lie there, taking in her scent and softly sleeping.

"Life's too nice right now to get up," I smiled and said to myself. Then I heard the door creak open.

"Hey, Jace. You still sleepy?" I looked up. It was Crystal. "You can't just sleep all day."

"Good morning to you too," I said, getting up, "So what are we supposed to do today?"

"Whatever you want, I guess. First, we're going to the market to sell the Dark Ritual we found, right?" she said.

"Yeah, we should do that," I said.

I sleepily stumbled out of the room, ate a little, and the three of us went down to the market. I worked to set up a shop and then we sat there and waited.

"Hey, Jace," Crystal said as we were sitting down, "You're really a nice guy, aren't you? You look kinda mean, but you don't act like it."

"Look, Crystal," I told her, "You were different. You changed something about me. I am a really mean person usually. Well, not so mean, but definitely less nice towards everyone."

"Of course you're not really a bad guy, though," she said, "No one is. Without light there is no darkness, right?"

"Crystal," I said, "You are my light. Anyways, don't worry about me. The past is the past, and nothing will change that."

Soon a few people began coming to our shop. We had planned on selling it for 25 million mesos, which we told everyone, but we knew we'd take barters. Finally, after about 3 hours, we sold it for 24 million.

We split the money and then started walking back to town.

"You guys really don't have to give me this much," said Alex, "In fact, I didn't do anything, so I shouldn't get any money."

"You're my friend, and that means we should split it with you. It's a lot of money anyways," I told him.

Suddenly I saw a few small coins drop from the air. Before I knew where they had come from, they erupted in an explosion of flame. I felt myself yell Crystal's name, then fall face first into the snowy ground. My face and body burned from the impact with the ground, and then I felt a wave of energy pass over me as the pain went away. I stood up, seeing the other two trying to climb onto their feet too.

"Crystal, keep being ready to heal. Someone's here," I said to her.

I saw a dark figure dash past Alex. Something struck his back and he fell on his knees disoriented. Crystal quickly healed Alex, but I saw the figure come back around for Crystal. I quickly grabbed my steelies and threw it into the figure's path, but suddenly it vanished into a burst of smoke.

"Someone tell me what that was about," I said, "Alex, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, "Man, if any of us knew what the heck that was, we'd have said it already. We don't get any rest, do we?"

"You'd think someone's after our money?" I said.

"No, that can't be right," said Crystal, "I don't know. That was weird. I'm kinda scared."

I walked over to her and held her in my arms. "There's nothing to worry about, Crystal," I told her, "We'll be fine. I'm sure it was nothing."

We continued walking to town. Alex had just taken a small blow on the back. Crystal and I were completely unharmed, so it really wasn't anything important, but we all knew inside our minds that something was up yet again.

"Crystal, I care about you," I said while we were about to enter town.

"What?" she asked, "Does this have anything to do with what happened just now? You said not to worry about it."

"No it's not that I have sudden care about your safety or something, but I really do care about you," I told her.

"That's just great," remarked Alex.

"Yeah, why does this make a difference all of a sudden?" she said.

"Well, I'm just saying. I do care about you, Crystal, more than anyone, and I know for a fact that wasn't true for a while. It wasn't true all the way to the point where you were in bed. At some point there, I felt more connected to you for some reason. It was so sudden, really strange too. This is weird, that's all," I said.

"Oh..." she said, "I'm sure it's nothing."

We walked back in silence.


	8. Chapter 8

Dark and Light – Chapter 8

By Ultima66

"What's wrong?" I asked Crystal.

She remained silent and looked down. Then she walked over to me and held my hand, squeezing tightly. She then let go and turned away. I felt surprised, but I knew there was nothing I could do unless she was willing to talk.

I turned to Alex. "What do you think is wrong?" I whispered to him.

"I'm not sure," he said, "But maybe she thinks she did something wrong. You don't think that guy is after her for something and she's causing us trouble by being around us, do you?"

"Well it really looks that way, but I can't imagine anything Crystal would do that would make someone come after her," I told him, "What can we do? I've never had to worry about a girl before, I'm clueless."

"Well, I don't know what to do either," he said, "All we can do is just let her get over it, and if that guy comes around again we can stop him from hurting Crystal, or either of us if he tries to attack."

"Yeah, that's all we can do if Crystal won't tell us what's wrong," I said, "I just wish she would tell us what's happening so we could know our options here."

Suddenly we saw the figure appear in front of us. It was clear this time the figure was a chief bandit: pirate set and holding a seclusion wristguard and a dragon's tail, with an eyepatch over one eye. He walked slowly towards us as Alex threw his weight into his sparta and swung at the figure. I grabbed two knives and got ready.

Alex's attack hit nothing as the figure vanished again, and then it reappeared behind me. I felt myself spin around and hurl the knives with all my might at the figure. It hit into his right arm, leaving a deep gash, but in a moment he focused his energy and created several orbs around himself, which he absorbed and recovered the damage his arm had sustained.

He lashed at me with his assaulter, which I deftly jumped to avoid. It was a narrow miss, and I felt the force of the dash against my feet, but I was unharmed. Alex lunged towards him again and this time he blocked the hit with he wristguard. The figure punched towards Alex, flying past his sparta to hit his chest, the spikes of the dragon's tail leaving deep indents in his armor.

I kept on throwing knives at the figure, but it was barely any help. He was far too fast and blocked with the wristguard a lot. Suddenly, I saw him slashing in a savage blow at Alex, who fended most of it off, but coins scattered everywhere.

I knew what was coming next, so I quickly tried to attack the figure, but before the knives could make contact, I saw the trademark shadow growing into a large figure, as the piles of money erupted in a burning explosion. I was thrown backwards, and even though I was flying through the air, the force still struck me like being hurled into a brick wall. All the air was sucked out of me at once, and as a gasped for air a burning sensation tore through my torso.

Alex was a distance away from me, and he was closer to the blast when it went off. However, he landed near Crystal, who quickly healed him.

The figure stepped towards me, and I started getting more worried. I tried to get up, but my back wouldn't cooperate. Searing pains shot through my body as I struggled to get on my feet, and I felt my legs buckle and my stomach hit the ground, more pains shooting into my head. The figure raised his dragon's tail over my head.

"Stop!" I heard Crystal yell, "Don't touch him!" I painfully looked up.

Crystal had a glowing bow out, ready to fire a holy arrow at the figure. He slowly walked towards Crystal now, weapon raised. As he got within a few feet of Crystal, the arrow released.

The arrow flew straight at him, but with a deft move he blocked the shot with his wristguard. A split second later, he dashed to Crystal at a blinding speed and attacked, the dagger point sinking deep into her arm. She screamed as drops of blood splattered onto the snowy ground. I gasped in shock at the sight, my injured body recoiling once more in pain. I blinked or a moment, and saw the blood streaming down Crystal's arm. She tried to heal the wound, but quickly, the figure had grabbed her by the neck, pointing the dragon's tail menacingly close.

Alex ran towards the two, ready to strike. Suddenly, a person appeared directly above Alex, struck him down on the ground, then vanished into thin air. Seeing this, I focused as hard as I could and got myself onto my feet. Taking careful aim, I struggled to pull out another two knives and throw them. I fell on the floor, pain creeping back into me. The stars flew dead towards the figure, though, and I felt myself relax inside. The stars came within a foot of the figure's body when suddenly, both Crystal and him vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Crystal!" I yelled out, "CRYSTAL!"

"Oh man," I heard Alex say, "He took Crystal."

I felt pain. Not the pain of the injury, but the pain of defeat. I had never been defeated like this before, and I didn't expect it now, especially when it was so important to me. Still, the stranger was obviously a very powerful chief bandit, and I had not even honed my skills enough to complete the challenge of a hermit.

"Alex," I said weakly, "I will get her back. I'm telling you."

"I want her back as much as you do, Jace, but it'll be hard. We don't know where to begin," he replied.

I eased myself onto my knees. The pain now burned more than ever now that the adrenaline that was in me began to be replaced by a sinking feeling of fear. I began trying to get up.

"Crystal must have known something like this would happen. Why couldn't she have just told us?" I said, half sad and half angry, "This would never have happened if we knew what was going to happen. I could have been ready. I could have saved her!"

"Yeah, I'm sorry too. I let her down more than you; at least you were there for her all the way. I never wanted to tell you this, but Jace, I'm the most jealous guy in the world right now. You have everything, don't you? You have happiness, you have a girlfriend, you have determination, and you have love to give and take. I don't know if I'll ever be... JACE! LOOK BEHIND YOU!" he yelled out suddenly.

I turned around as fast as I could, seeing several bills of money fall down. Shock surged through my brain, and I body fell weak as I saw the small slip of white paper. On it was written the words "Bye-bye" in ominous red letters. It was so sudden that I didn't pay much attention to it, but I knew. I knew it was Crystal's blood. I could feel it, just as I felt the startling vengeance that grew from the chief bandit. I couldn't think, no, it was too fast. I could only feel. Thoughts tried to race to my head, but they lost the race to the explosion, and the last thing I knew was the feeling of being close to Crystal as the explosion tore through my body – head flung back like a ragdoll, limbs trailing to my body as this time it felt like a wall went crashing through me.

Crystal in my mind, I fainted.


	9. Chapter 9

Dark and Light – Chapter 9

By Ultima66

Nov 12

I'm in bed now, injured a little, but Jace... I guess bad things happen to good people. Jace is hurt badly, and he'll need a long time to recover. I've been knocked out for several hours myself, and my head hurts as I write this. Some weird guy just attacked us. Jace was really hurt in a Mesos Explosion, and Crystal was kidnapped, I think. I can't believe this. What will happen to Crystal? I need to know what will happen in the near future. Things just don't look good.

Alex

Nov 20

Jace is still unconscious. I'm beginning to think things are getting worse. I hear knocks on the door during the night, very slight knocks, but enough to be noticeable. Nights are terrible. I can feel something really dark in those rooms at night. It's really scary. Creepy laughs that come out of nowhere, and that incessant knocking, they've become something of a normal. Still, I wish the best for Crystal, if she's still alive. I'm clinging to a hope she's still around, but I'm scared to death all the time and can barely get any sleep. Right now, above all else, I have to get Jace back to health. I'm alright now, but this life of taking care of Jace is really wearing me out. I can't go anywhere and have to always keep watch of him. It better end soon.

Alex

Nov 21

Jace stirred a little, but then fell unconscious again. Maybe things will be better soon. Every day I die a little not having any freedom.

Alex

Nov 24

I can't take much more of this any more. The place is still haunted or something. I'm tired all the time, and what's worse is that the more I'm tired the less I can watch over Jace. It's been almost 2 whole weeks since Crystal was taken, but I still pray that she's alright. Jace hasn't moved for a few days now, and even though he looks fine, I'm slowly losing hope.

Alex

Dec 1

It's a new month, and Jace still isn't better. I've become almost a sleepwalker, not knowing when it's day or night. I fear soon after Jace is better I'll collapse out of fatigue. I've been having tons of breakdowns recently, fainting once and several times waking up in the morning finding myself crying and sore through my whole body. I'm getting less than 4 hours of sleep a night because of the place scaring me, and when I am asleep I have nightmares. I can't even think any more, I have to go.

Alex

Dec 12

Has it really been a whole month since Crystal was kidnapped? I've lost track of time, and I'm struggling to get this down. Tears are almost always flowing down my cheeks, perhaps only fueled because I always keep a pitcher of coffee in the room to keep me awake in the mornings. The manager of the store told me I look like a skeleton now, and it's a miracle I can still take care of someone else. He wanted me to rest and get medical help, but I refused. Jace is the one that has the most to lose here. I'll take my rest when Jace is better.

I'm extremely nauseous all the time, yes, and I started coughing a little blood, too. I can barely pass all the coffee through my system, and I threw up once or twice already, I can't be too sure like this. My head hurts like crazy and my whole body seems like it's just giving up, but I'm relying on my heart to stand strong and fight for Jace.

Alex

Dec 20

I just woke up now, and I think it's Dec 20 from the calendar but I don't remember those days between my last entry and today. The storekeeper told me that I had passed out and he had to take care of the both of us for a while. He said we should take turns so that I could get the rest I needed. I can't believe that Jace still isn't up yet. My hope is slowly dwindling down to nothing. The salt lines on my face are slowly sinking in, and looking in the mirror I didn't even recognize myself today, and the storekeeper told me that I looked a lot better now than when I fainted. I can't believe what I've been doing to myself, but I know it's got to be the right thing.

Alex

Dec 21

Finally, Jace is up. He was up for all of today trying to take in the last month and more. Now he's finally asleep, and I can take my needed rest. Everything will be good again soon, i know it. Everything will

(The journal entry stops at this point. No more writing can be found on its pages after this date.)


	10. Chapter 10

Dark and Light – Chapter 10

By Ultima66

_As I see 4 seasons pass me by_ _Reflecting the changes through my eyes_ _Snow falls but then to dissipate_

_Spring will come and set me free again_

I let the voice die away as I turned off the music, the soulful voice reflecting deep into my heart. I knew the seasons were passing me by, and I knew I had to do something.

He had been back, but I was asleep at the time. I remember waking up to the dragon tail at my neck, and then seing Alex run into the room, the chief bandit vanishing as soon as he saw Alex. I saw that dark, sick look on his face, and clearly remember his last words to me.

"Jace," he said, "It's been too long for me to watch after you. That guy has been here for more than a month, still stalking around at night. He wants you dead, Jace, and now that you're better I have nothing more to say than my obligation to help you is over. I'd like to help you out, but living like this is going to kill me soon, so I have to say goodbye. I wish it were easier to part, but you have your problems to solve and I have my own life to live. I don't think I'll see you again, sorry."

With that he left. It's been another two months of staying around wondering to myself, but no answers came. I found Alex's diary in his room, the last entry incomplete. I knew something had changed in the time I was unconscious, but I didn't know what I could do.

But now, the poetic verse had captured something in me and helped me discover my soul. I knew what I had to do, and that was to find Crystal, if she was still alive, and to set my own soul free. Crystal's kidnapping weighed heavy in my heart, and I knew I had no more choice but to lift the weight.

I walked out of the room, carrying nothing but my stars and knives. Those would be all I needed. I can't say I knew where I was going, but my heart led the way.

I was in Sleepywood. I felt something about Crystal close by, and I began searching around the town. Suddenly, I heard someone yell in pain behind me. I turned around and saw them: Crystal and her kidnapper, his dragon tail dripping in blood, a mage lying bleeding on the floor.

I was speechless, being overcome by so many emotions at once. He had murdered an innocent person just to get my attention, first of all, but I also saw Crystal, and I was overcome with happiness on that part. I stared into Crystal's eyes, and her deep blue eyes stared back. They told me a story of sadness, and no words needed to be exchanged to know how much both of us had been through.

I looked at the chief bandit. Anger boiled inside of me, and I wanted to attack him, knowing all too well it wouldn't end in my favor.

"Why?" I said, "Why did you do that?"

He finally spoke, the first time I had ever heard him talk, and the voice echoed back a familiarity that I couldn't pinpoint.

"Do I need a reason? All I can say to you is that I enjoy it, do you not?" he said. With those words he went on the attack and tried to strike me with an assaulter. I jumped as fast as I could, and threw two knives downwards. I somersaulted over his attack and saw the knives sink into his shoulder as I flipped towards Crystal.

"Dark sight!" I heard her yell as she grabbed my arm tightly. I understood, and within a second, we had vanished into the shadows. I saw Crystal motion to me to be quiet, and we creeped past the chief bandit and into a safe place in the Sleepywood sauna. I broke the dark sight.

"Jace, it's been so long," she said, "I've missed you. I've really missed you."

"Crystal," I said to her, "I came here because you're what matters to my life, and I refuse to let you slip away from me without me doing everything I can to get you back. You have to tell me what happened, because apparently that guy has been torturing me for months now."

"Jace, I don't know how better to put this, but he is you. You two are both Jace, just different sides of yourself that split apart," she said, letting the news spread through my mind. "I'm sorry this happened, Jace, because I know why he exists, and it has to do with me."

I heard out her words without contempt. "Crystal, I don't blame you for whatever you did. You gave my life meaning and that's all I could ever ask of you. Whatever you did to make my other side incarnate itself, it's not your fault. If anything it's my fault because that guy just happens to be me, right?"

"Jace, just let me speak," she said, "When I was unconscious, you remember me telling you that I killed you in my dream? I have a feeling that I was the one that broke your two sides apart, and you know things have changed. Those few days we spend together afterwards, I knew you had changed for the better. I found out that the worst part of you had been separated after I was taken ahold of. He told me everything, except for what he wants with us."

"That's what you know. Crystal, I know what's in your heart. I understand you more than anyone else, and I know the rest of the puzzle because I know how he thinks. My darker side is pure jealousy and selfishness, and I know it's got to be trying to kill me so he'll be alone. That's got to be why he's been after me," I said.

"But why me? Why did he take me when he could have killed you outright?" she said.

"Crystal, do you know how shadows work? A light shines on something, and on the other side there is a shadow with no light. I think everyone has a darker side and a lighter side; one can't exist without the other. If he had killed me, he would have killed himself. He needs you, Crystal, because you can be the light to counter him, and he would be free," I said, "Look, I never thought this through myself. Until now I didn't even know you were still alive."

I stared at her soulful eyes once more, and we embraced and kissed. I felt her tense up at something and she let go.

"Jace, you know what that means? You said there's no darkness without light and no light without darkness right? You can't be without him. I'm scared, Jace. I don't want to be without you," she said.

"Things will work out," I told her, unsure of anything myself at the moment, "We've got to fight him as well as we can."

We stepped out into the town.

Author's Note: Sorry for another slowish chapter, but I feel like the emotional aspect of the story really matters, and I have to capture it here before I get near the end. Props to anyone who knows what the song is at the beginning without searching it up.


	11. Chapter 11

Dark and Light – Chapter 11

By Ultima66

I looked at him: my other form. I knew the two of us couldn't coexist in the same world, and I knew there was no choice left but to fight now. I griped Crystal's hand as tightly as I could as I felt my heart beating like crazy.

I made the first move. Pulling a few steelies out, I held them in my hand for a second and took aim. Silently I swung as hard as I could and flung thenm full force at my opponent. He vanished into the air and I saw a line of energy across me. I braced myself as well as I could when I realized what happened. I felt the cold sting of the dragon tail cut into my arm, and I was dizzy for a moment.

Crystal healed me as quickly as she could, but the dizziness didn't wear off soon enough. When I regained focus, I saw my dark side holding several wads of bills. With a fling he threw them upwards into the air. I saw his shadow take out the signature fuse box and push down on it, setting the money on fire.

The next thing I knew, I was on the ground with an intense burning pain all over my body. As I felt the pain wash away I got up as quickly as I could and located my dark side, then started throwing knives relentlessly at him.I saw one slice through the side of his arm, and he grabbed at the gash.

He ran towards Crystal this time, and I stopped throwing for fear of hitting her. I jumped towards her as fast as I could, but when we both got close an assaulter from him brought her down to the ground with a shriek. He grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up. She screamed in pain of his arm clamped around her neck, but it was hard for her to make any noise.

It was more than I could bear. "Stop it! I'll take you on alone, but you leave Crystal out of this. I'm the one you want dead, not her," I said.

"Fine, then. She's out of this battle, if you want," I heard him coldly laugh.

He continued grabbing Crystal, but this time he held her down with his hald holding the dragon tail, the spikes threateningly close to her neck. I saw him pick up a stray steely knife on the ground and carry Crystal over to a tree.

Prying her staff out of her hands, he used one hand to force her arm onto the trunk of the tree, and with the other, he jabbed the knife deep into her arm, piercing through to the other side, literally nailing her arm into the tree with a knife. She screamed in pain, and it took all all the willpower I had to not break down right there. He picked up a second knife and nailed her other arm down in the same way.

"Jace! It hurts! Please, save me from this!" she cried. Blood clearly flowed down her arms in a crimson stream, some of it going down the hind part of her arm all the way to her body, staining part of her white dress red.

"Why did you do this to her?" I asked him, fear, rage, and depression hitting me all at once.

"I only did what you asked, didn't I?" he replied.

As I heard another scream from my love, I could take no more. I went berserk on my dark side, throwing everything I had at him.

Several knives stuck into his body, more than would be needed to kill a normal person. But he wasn't normal anyways. I saw him pull out the knives one by one, then simply heal himself of his injuries. I heard Crystal's voice strain, and saw her struggling. He was stealing her life force to heal himself, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

I fell down, emotionally destroyed by Crystal's pain, physically worn down by what I had thrown at my dark form. As he walked towards me, I said a last prayer of hope for Crystal's sake. The line of his assaulter appeared around me one more time.

The end didn't come. I suddenly glowed white, as I felt Crystal's presence surrounding me, and the assaulter simply deflected off of me and did nothing.

"STOP THIS!" I heard her yelling, "I'm hurt, I'm really hurt, but I don't want to see you hurt any more, Jace. I can give up my life, if it means I can save you, Jace."

I shuddered at the thought of her being gone. "No, Crystal, I will give up my life for you. At the very least part of me is still alive in my darker side. I've lost you for so long. All I wanted was to see you one last time, and I guess I did," I told her. My attacker had actually backed away, apparently waiting for us to decide who he should kill.

"Jace, if you die, he'll still be around. You're the only one who can stop him. At least there's a hope if I die and leave you two alone. You have a chance to kill him. That's all that really matters, Jace," she told me.

"I have to fight to the end, Crystal," I told her.

"Then do it, Jace. Do it, and make me proud of you. Goodbye, Jace," she said, as she pulled her arm through the knife, widening the hole in her arm. Weakly she pulled the knife out of the tree. She held it up to her neck.

"NO!" I screamed, watching the scene unfold in front of my eyes, completely powerless to change anything.

"Goodbye, Jace, one last time. Remember, no matter what, we'll always be together," she said, as the knife sank into her neck, Crystal thrusting it in deep and then pulling sideways. She gasped one last breath and then her eyes closed for the last time.

"Crystal... I... loved you... and now... you're gone. Gone forever..." I let tears flow down my face, then turned to face my darker side. "I'll kill you," I said menacingly.

"You can't do that. Just give up now, and we can cooperate. You're not a bad fighter, but I'm better," he said to me.

"I swear, I will kill you," I said.

"Wrong," I heard a voice on the side of me. A blade plunged into my side, leaving me gasping for air as my lifeblood flowed out of my body. "I will kill both of you," the voice said. A person stepped out. He had an extremely skinny body, barely able to support it's weight. I looked at the gaunt face and realized who it was.

"A... Alex? Why? I have so many questions for you," I tried to say, as more and more blood spilled out of my body. Pain was everywhere, but I had to fight through it. "Why did you run away so long ago? What is the meaning of this?"

"Goodbye, Jace. I have to stop your evil form, and there's no other way than to kill you. It's been a long time, but I hope you'll understand. So long, I've been driven mad. I have no more purpose than to silence that creature that still tortures me to today, Jace, you're dark form," he told me, "I'm nothing but a cursed body. There's nothing left for me but revenge."

I looked over to my dark form. He lay on the ground, lifeless, as I felt my whole body shut down, still conscious in my eyes but nowhere else. I stared up. I saw the figure of Alex standing above me, suddenly crumbing into dust and falling all over me, and lastly, I saw the last drop of blood spill out of my body, as Crystal and I were finally reunited forever.

Until the end of time, dark and light will always belong together, and together they shall always stay.


End file.
